New releases for 9 September 2016

It’s been a squeeze trying to reduce all the great releases due on 9 September to just eight, but we managed it eventually.

To kick off, Teenage Fanclub make a long-awaited return and – to our complete non-surprise – their 10th album is a beauty, chock-full of songs about the stuff that really matters: life and love. Wilco ring the changes again with the release of Schmilco, a mostly acoustic album with a spaciousness to allow the exceptional songwriting to breathe. Jack White’s Acoustic Recordings 1998–2016 represents an eclectic mix of his work from these years; in typical fashion he ranges from a bluegrass version of a Raconteurs song to a song written for a soft-drink ad. The Allah Lahs may not be a familiar name but they produce effervescent, thoughtful pop, so give then a listen. The haunting soundtrack from The Man Who Fell To Earth at long last gets a full release, for all the Bowie completists out there! St Paul & The Broken Bones are an eight-piece from Birmingham, Alabama who specialise in joyful rock’n’soul. We are longtime admirers of Okkervil River, whose new album, a follow-up to 2013’s Silver Gymnasium, won’t disappoint fans new or old. Finally there is a constant flood of reissued classics appearing on vinyl, and this week sees both Neil Young and The Verve release some albums that belong in any collection.

Release is Skeleton Tree by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, not because we have heard it – very few have – but because it’s Nick Cave. And what better reason could there be than that?